Catherine Does Big First Week Sales In The U.S.

Catherine’s done well for Atlus in North America. According to a tweet from the Atlus USA Twitter account, the game sold 200,000 copies in its first week following its release. Atlus celebrated the occasion with a cake:

Catherine also exceeded Atlus’ sales expectations in Japan. Atlus were expecting 150,000 copies in Japanese sales, and the game went on to sell 250,000 units by the end of February, which led to an increased goal of 300,000. Parent company, Index Holdings, then announced plans to expandCatherine as a new franchise.

200,000 in the first week in the US…for a game like this? I’m sorry but that’s phenomenal. Good on you Atlus. Can’t wait until this game hits Europe. I’m counting on Deep Silver to do a prompt release.

malek86

Best first week ever for Atlus USA, apparently. That makes me wonder which game was the previous record holder though.

I also guess the multiplatform release helped the game to reach that record – selling on two consoles will naturally make the numbers higher. And before Catherine, I don’t remember many other multiplatform games from Atlus, even in the past generations.

urbanscholar

I’d like to say persona 4 but I could be wrong.

malek86

I was thinking maybe Demon’s Souls, but that one sounds more like a slow burner.

Gonna have to guess it probably was Demon’s Souls, even though I too would have thought maybe that would have been more of a slow-burn/word of mouth type success story. Wikipedia currently states “In North America, Demon’s Souls debuted at the eleventh place of the October 2009 charts according to NPD Group, with over 150,000 copies sold, selling over 500,000 by September 2010″. Not sure what the timeline is for that, so maybe first week was even more than 200k.

http://twitter.com/Linka13 Linka

Looking at that, actually, I realize now why Atlus is one of my favorite companies.

Compared to most companies, they keep their expectation figures to be realistic, perhaps very modest. They realize that reaching those sorts of figures gives a better feeling than expecting like 250,000 copies sold on an immediate scale (which is what makes Catherine reaching that a triumph in many people’s eyes, including their own)

OneOkami

“That makes me wonder which game was the previous record holder though.”

If I had to guess off the top of my head I’d say Demon’s Souls (that is, if its not their best week 1 seller right now).
As for making it multiplatform, I always figured their use of Gamebryo aided in that decision.

KyoyaHibari

Lmao, I had quite a story for getting my hands on a Deluxe Edition.

http://tiny.cc/justintvbayorgasmic Genesis

I am so happy for ATLUS! They deserve the success and awesome sales

https://twitter.com/RaiohV ShinkaRaioh

I’m uber happy for the good news on Catherine and uber sad because more sales gives me less chances to get an Deluxe Edition when I’m home…I hate holidays!!! >___<
Good work tho and I hope it will sell even more in the coming months~
And what seducing cake that is~

urbanscholar

mmm sexy cake

PersonaBull

Glad to have done my part. Already played through the storyline twice. It would have been more, if I didn’t have Otakon this past weekend. I’ll definitely support games like Catherine coming over here. I was hesitant at first, but the voice acting really was excellent. Keep giving me quality games, and I’ll keep buying them <3

http://twitter.com/Linka13 Linka

Great for you, Atlus! I’m glad that they’ve managed to make a new IP and have it sell /this/ well! :)

http://twitter.com/FaithlessMr Bruno Silva

This title deserves all the praise it can get and some more. I hope it also becomes a huge hit here in Europe (And Australia and the other PAL regions), so it actually turns out to be a worldwide hit!

http://twitter.com/Shadowmen19 Shadowman

woooooo atlus

mikanko

Glad to see it’s doing well. Watched more than a couple hours of someone playing this and the localization was handled really well.

It’s an interesting game, but hoping they do a P5 next. My puzzle gaming tastes aren’t quite masochistic enough to want this game for $60 <.<;. Mainly because I just can't afford it while I'm still trying to find funds for importing Xillia, but I might pick it up down the road.

Still think they can improve on their English script and start recording voice actors in the same room with each other so the lines flow a little more naturally. It's still quite watchable and entertaining which is more than I can say for a lot of game dubs out there.

M’iau M’iaut

“Still think they can improve on their English script and start recording voice actors in the same room with each other so the lines flow a little more naturally.”

That would be nice, and the JP-centric game companies would be a great place for such to start. Recording voices separately remains the standard in US animation, but only one glimpse at any making of bonus and you see what gets lost when not working with a group performance.

I’d suspect that must be the result of how less common things with only voice work are (i.e. animation) in the two cultures. You’ll only hear a single voice on a commercial. and outside of children’s shows, all other TV animation is social/politcal satire of one form or another. But then again, actors should be more than familiar with read-throughs and voice recordings for post-production and legalese purposes.

http://twitter.com/KeionKirby Hoshi星 ♥ Ys Celceta

Time for Persona 5. Who’s with me?

http://twitter.com/Megawarrior345 Elle

Well I remember them saying it’s in development since last year in March. I hope it’s at TGS.

I hope they adapt it into an anime. The demo didn’t make me wanna play it, just made me wanna watch it more.

OneOkami

I’m actually not too surprised to hear this. The game got an usually high amount of publicity for them and sex sells.

However this:

“Parent company, Index Holdings, then announced plans to expand Catherine as a new franchise.”

Caught me from way outta left field

M’iau M’iaut

This and a few other ‘surprises’ (999, LA Noire) might be showing the older customer is beginning to gain traction in the states.

I’d be interested to know system breakdown. If there is any noticeable spread, potential publishers of localized VNs or any other “mature title for mature audiences” might just find it a little useful……..if there isn’t, multiplat titles like the new Mages/5pb title make themselves a bit more viable.

Perhaps the youth focused publications/websites will find it harder to ignore and or bash such titles just because they don’t play to the BLOPS demographic?

SetzerGabbiani

It only makes sense since gamers who started gaming with Atari and Nintendo are in their late 20s early 30s.

M’iau M’iaut

If you started with the initial systems, you can add 10-20 years onto a potential customer, but that sure as h*ll does not mean the industry has chosen to realize that. Mature (M) rated games were allowed to be only represented by GTA and CoD; neither of which find their largest audience among adults. Thus the legal concerns that hopefully have just now been dealt with or at least clarified.

We knew of the Persona’s, and Ico’s. Even the Harvest Moon’s and Eternal Darknesses; that does not mean the larger gaming community did. Just take note of the reaction to Catherine and the games mentioned in my first post. Some show actual surprise that folks want gameplay that is defined by reading, clicking and thinking; and not just finding the biggest gun on the planet or hitting the attack key one millimicrosecond faster than the next dude.

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

LA Noire and older customer? Surely you mean Heavy Rain instead? A Detective plot is attractive to all ages. 999, it had as high sales as LA Noire and Heavy Rain? Impossible.

DanteJones

Congratulations Atlus! It was fun to play, and they deserve every penny (although playing the game made me want to drink more often, what with the alcohol trivia and whatnot lol).

So, how about that Persona 5? ;)

Lich King

Give us UMINEKO!!!, that;ll sell like hot cakes….maybe..

idrawrobots

Great news, hope the next game isn’t called Catherine 2.

http://twitter.com/sakurairomemori Alphabet Soup

This is great news! Good for Atlus! I’m not usually a puzzle game person, but the story was interesting, the cutscenes nicely animated and well-voice-acted, and the puzzles were challenging but still do-able enough in easy mode for me to want to keep going. I really enjoyed Catherine, so keep it up Atlus!

http://twitter.com/Megawarrior345 Elle

200,000!? I’m very shocked and happy right now. All that money can go towards Persona 5. O_O

kylehyde

Congratulations to Atlus, they really deserved it. Catherine is a good example on how the people is still hungry for new kind of games and that is just matter to do a good campaing and publicity so that more people will know a lot more about the game. This success put in worse light to certain companies that have lots of money coughUbisoftcoughEAcough (at least compared to Atlus/index holding) and did nothing for new games like child of eden and shadow of the dammed.

Again congrats Atlus.

Zero_Destiny

I’m curious to see how Catherine can transition into a series. If it tries to take similar themes and plot points then I wonder if it’ll just be a series of cheaters and stuff (and similar gameplay of course). Part of me thinks that’s awesome and would make for an interesting plot while another part of me thinks that would get old really quick. I don’t know what to think about it becoming a series.

I wonder if they’ll just take the lazy route and label each game Catherine because they want a brand name. That’s fine and every thing but I think it would be even cooler if they did a similar naming theme for every game. Like make the next game Natalie with the two characters Natalie and Nataley. That would be really cool I think. Of course it does miss out on a brand name. I don’t know though I just think it would be cooler to do what I suggested. lol Anyways I’m thinking about random stuff that’s too far off. As of now good job Atlus. You deserve it. This and El Shaddai are definitely the games I’m routing for the most right now and want to see only the best for you guys.

Guest

Someone mentioned that maybe the “Golden Playhouse” should be the ongoing theme like The Twilight Show and feature different stories with different gameplay

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

Yes please, if they bring back the host. She was quite nice and reminded me of folks in my town.

http://twitter.com/Linka13 Linka

I think a way to do this is that the games all focus on a different sort of vice or sin.

Catherine, as in this game, could be an exercise of lust. Maybe the next game could focus on greed (in that the main character has stolen something), or envy (in which they covet what others have).

https://twitter.com/RaiohV ShinkaRaioh

I would approve of that!

Remina

“Parent company, Index Holdings, then announced plans to expand Catherine as a new franchise.”
This was one of the reasons I bought this game in the first week; to support innovative games like this.

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

Becoming a franchise makes it lose innovation and gain sequelization to annualization.

Souji Tendou

If they want to make this into a new franchise, I think they need to do something about the puzzle aspect. Maybe removes the puzzle gameplay and makes it more RPG like but something close to Persona-Social Link-style?

Anyway, I really enjoyed the story but the puzzle gameplay is what makes me lazy to replay the game. But then again, maybe it’s just me. :/

They cant just get rid of the puzzles because that what makes the game new and different
But i agree that i would like to see some more character interaction out side the story with a social link-like format

http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/HAEBCODVH3BGFIHE47BKNDXD2I Jonathan

leave the RPG stuff to their other franchises; Catherine is their puzzle series, with a bit of horror and romance sim thrown in.

If anything, I can see them revisiting the concept. . . but I have no clue how they would make a sequel, unless it covers a different subject matter (depending on your ending, things can seem rather finished, narrative-wise).

Though, I really want to see a new RPG from them that isn’t on a handheld (love those games, but c’mon; gimme them next gen games already lol)

http://twitter.com/Linka13 Linka

I agree. Trying to toss in RPG elements just makes it like all of the other games Atlus has. Catherine has succeeded because it’s different, and having new elements like this is what keeps things interesting.

I’m not very good at puzzles like this, but I prefer that Catherine sticks to puzzles when it comes to the action portions of gameplay. I think staying with subconscious settings when it comes to it will help, but I do think each game, at the least, should have different characters as the focus.

AnimeRemix

Good to see Catherine doing this well. Atlus you really do deserve this! It’s always nice to play new games that give a fresh of breath air~

http://twitter.com/RefueledPants Jordan Slovsaki

If this game didn’t sell well I would’ve become even more disgusted with the gaming community than I already am. Seeing the games that sell in the millions, really makes me shake my head in despair.

neo_firenze

I’d be interested to know how that breaks down between 360/PS3, to see which console is providing more support for this kind of game. I personally bought it for PS3 even though I have both systems – I just tend to default to PS3 for multi-platform RPGs.

http://www.facebook.com/ValkyrieProfileGuy Jesse Thompson

I agree neo_firenze, I have both and usually buy my rpg’s for the PS3 out of habit. The ability to install the data for quicker loading is nice also.

mikanko

You can install games on 360 too. <.<;

I think I trend towards PS3 too though unless I plan on playing something a lot online. A couple of times I'd wished I'd picked a game up for 360 instead because of custom soundtracks though

Sakurazaki

Yeah, I like how the 360 has multi-profile support for multiplayer, as well as an in-game music player.

http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/members/55321.html FinalArcadia

I refuse to pay for Xbox Live, so I only buy online games for PS3. I’m a real cheapskate, lol!

mikanko

Kinda depends on how serious you are about the online I guess. In game netcode is handled by the people making the game, but matchmaking is handled by PSN and Xbox Live. I think XBL is easily the better of the two. Using SSF4 as an example I would always find better connections via 360 than PS3. Blazblue is a little harder to gauge, but I think that’s mostly because the game selling better on PS3 overall, but I still have no problems finding solid connections over 360.

I don’t reall do the console FPS thing, but people I know who play Call of Duty whatevers all pretty much testify to the same thing when they’ve tried playing the games over PSN.

my Xbox live gold is something like $40 a year, so I don’t think it’s too bad, especially considering not everything is multi-platform.

edit: in response to your response, Yeah Tekken is another game that’s sold well enough on PS3 over 360 that I think there being a bigger userbase makes things pretty even between the two.

http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/members/55321.html FinalArcadia

I don’t play FPS games either, but when I play Tekken 6 I can usually find an opponent with a decent connection speed pretty quickly. I’m actually a big PSN fan, since I’ve never had any issues with it.

I’m not a huge online gamer, but thank you for the information anyway! :)

http://tristsantithesis.tumblr.com/ Tsunayoshi Sawada

The boxart issue would make it difficult to definitely say which is providing more support in terms of gamers with multiple consoles.

HistorysGreatestMonster

According to vgchartz, the PS3 version sold close to 100,000 copies while the 360 one sold a little over 50,000. 200,000 is a shipped number, not a copies sold to customers, so even if vgchartz can be a bit iffy, I think the numbers work out. It should also be noted that the PS3 version, according to them, is the #1 game for all systems last week.

Congratulations to Atlus on a job well done. It is good to see something different do well in the market. With any luck, your direction for the Catherine franchise might lead to me actually joining the ranks of your buyers instead of just offering moral support.

MrSirFeatherFang

So… is Strange Journey considered Shin Megami Tensei IV? I’m sorry it’s in my backlog and I have yet to play it… Is that why people want a P5 instead of a SMT V?

SetzerGabbiani

Strange Journey is indeed SMT IV, though some don’t want to believe/admit that.

People want Persona 5 because they are more familiar with the Persona brand, at least in North America. The social link aspect of the game gives it a wider appeal than the pure SMT games, hence the greater popularity.

OneOkami

I believe its also Persona 3 and 4′s lighter, more widely appealing themes and they not as heavy on the dungeon crawling. Also, a lot of fans were introduced to the franchise via those 2 games.

http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

Hopefully they play the other games besides Persona, really the whole franchise/branding just needs equal praise and attention.

Kibbitz

That would really be nice, but I wonder how the breakdown is in terms of interest. As a personal example, I am SMT > SMT DS = Persona and I didn’t buy Catherine. I expect myself to be in the minority since I’m pretty much heavier into the gameplay than the storyline though.

http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

I started on Nocturne when it came out and bought every game since, so I’m good on anything really. I do like demon negotiating so that is where my interests prioritize I guess.

The breakdown scares me. P3 and 4 are more known than the others, even among the Persona series itself it seems.

Kibbitz

Sounds nice to be you. However, I’m a difficult guy =P I started with SMT1 on GBA, then Nocturne, then DS, SJ, then P3P. I didn’t like P3P’s approach to social links and I found DS amazingly tedious to play. SJ, I initially avoided due to the in-game trophy stuff but picked up on the advice of a friend. I enjoyed it a lot, though I wish that there was more variance in the game for Law/Neutral/Chaos runs.

Catherine, well, I avoided it due to gameplay content since I honestly wouldn’t appreciate the story as much as most of the fans. My friend has the Japanese version, so I’ll probably borrow that to try at some point unless I can find the US version for cheap somehow.

Barrylocke89

I at least was that way. P3:FES was my first, and P4 is still my favorite, but I’ve since played Devil Survivor, Strange Journey, Nocturne, DDS1, the other Personas, and more. Persona 3 was just my gateway drug :P

SolidusSnake

It’s a shame that Strange Journey gets so little respect, it is truly an amazing game and one of the best dungeon crawlers I’ve ever played. A worthy successor to Nocturne, even though it’s stuck on the DS. I’d much prefer a new SMT than another Persona, although i know I’m in the minority on this one.

http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/HAEBCODVH3BGFIHE47BKNDXD2I Jonathan

I gotta admit to finding the game ever-so novel

reminds me of those Dreamcast era games, the ones that were so experimental, and while they contained the flaws of being original, shined through as unique.

that being said. . . I dunno about a franchise. . . I mean, the mystery is solved by the end, and depending on your ending, it’s not all that clear as to whether things will continue. That, and I’d really like to see them get back to the Shin Megaten franchises, and give them the needed next-gen treatment. (i.e. Persona 5 with gender choice off the bat lol)

PersonaBull

Well, the franchise only really makes sense so long as it’s a new cast, similar to the Persona games and Final Fantasy and whatnot. Keeping the nightmare-puzzle aspect and creating a new story around it I suppose. Or, as I saw someone else mention, keeping the Golden Theater as the constant and being able to design an entirely new system to replace the tower puzzles. There are ways for it to continue.
That said, I’m really just looking forward to Persona 5 as well. As much as I loved Catherine, I don’t know that it needs a sequel so much as companies need to create more games with the same originality and creativity on the same level. There doesn’t seem to be any risk-taking nowadays. Companies are way too afraid to push for new ideas. Even the creators of Catherine had little faith it would sell well. I’m glad I could help surprise them, and I hope it promotes more of these new ideas ever seeing the light of day.

http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/members/55321.html FinalArcadia

The Dreamcast was ahead of its time. You’re so right, so many great, weird, and unique games were released on that beautiful console…I still keep hope alive that one day, somehow, Sega will release a new console. And a new Skies of Arcadia.

kroufonz

just please make sure to make SMT4 or Persona 5 before making catherine sequel atlus!:P

brain_cleanser

They technically already made SMT4 (Strange Journey was the first game in ages to carry the SMT lable in Japan), but here here on P5.

http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

Also blow some cash on Growlanser localization and you got the Atlus demand cycle!

Ladius

Growlanser 4 PSP’s announcement would be the best announcement in a long time, let’s hope Atlus USA is still willing to take risks on niche games.

https://twitter.com/#!/SplashdownTiger STiger

Joystiq wrote something funny about this same thing.

“Joystiq has received word from a reliable cake that approximately 200,000 copies were sold in the first week.”

I thought that was pretty funny, but I also anticipated “The cake is a lie herpderpdurrdurr” comments as well.

http://chronotwist.deviantart.com/ JustThisOne

Good to know that the pastries these days have given up the life of crime.

http://bmgf.bulbagarden.net/members/55321.html FinalArcadia

So there’s still hope for unique games! I’m glad. I wonder who decided on the cake, though. I wonder if there was a “Catherine” or “Katherine” vote. The cake looks delicious…

haqua

We all know a third of those were from the cover!

Besides that, I’m glad for Atlus, although hopefully they’ll give it a while before making a sequel or whatever.

Guest

Wow that’s kind of surprising.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EUSPDCE22Z6ETYY3W5XRZ2SFZU Darrel

That cake looks yummy!

AnimusVox

But it’s a lie

Yeah….I went there…

http://otoboku.se manga

Expanding it as a franchise would mean that the one of a kind game play that made this game good will be gone.

So please Atlus, no more Catherine games. Make plans for a new entry in the Persona franchise instead :p

puchinri

Well, they mentioned the lite novel as a way to expand the franchise, which is the only thing I can think of to expand it mentioned so far, but that doesn’t really diminish anything~.

I don’t think they meant anymore actual games, per se.

http://otoboku.se manga

Then I approve since it will not be a “new” complete game but more from the same world that we hopefully haven´t experienced in the game already and that I can understand.

http://www.siliconera.com Jenni

Maybe they could do another game with an equally supernatural and thrilling story, with a different puzzle gimmick and name, but still have it be part of the Golden Playhouse line and have the Midnight Venus Trish as the host.

AnimusVox

They should just base one entire game on her mignificent afro

Xeahnort

Well deserved

http://www.facebook.com/CalientePhoenix Phoenix Caliente

Good game but the plot seemed to fall apart, at least in the Katherine Lover Path though had a redeeming ending even after doing those annoying Final Sphere puzzles (easy but I wanted the ending already). The puzzles started to feel like a hassle keeping us from the main attraction. The game would have been a good OVA.

Hopefully these high sales provided them with enough finance to go above and beyond for Persona 5 release with an announcement of the game soon.

Oni123

“Announced plans to expand Catherine as a new franchise.” i don’t like the sound of that =(

http://thrust-the-sky.deviantart.com/ WildArms

THERE YOU GO!, see it wasnt just demon’s soul!

Kitestwinblades

Drool* I haven’t be brought up around sweets that much, but can someone tell me if picture on the cake is edible? I’d like the sexiest slice of Catherine, please!
Congrats to Catherine sales!

http://nocturneadagio.blogspot.com/ LainaLain

Can someone tell me why the game is named Catherine?

http://twitter.com/bta_man BTA

See that girl? She’s Catherine.

http://nocturneadagio.blogspot.com/ LainaLain

Yeah, but isn’t the story mostly about the guy and his crazy ass dreams? What role does Catherine play?

Glad to see a game like this do so well! I would be interested if by franchise, they meant making it a manga or continuing the series in video game format- in which case, it would be interesting to see if the “Golden Theatre” becomes the only thing the games have in common, or if they continue with the same characters.

darkfox1

So like Atlus are you gonna do a Persona 4 Portable before the PSP dies out? I sold my PS2 so I never got a chance to play it. A P4P would make so many people who never got to play P4 on PS2 Happy. And hell they could do the same thing P3P did and appeal to everyone even novice P4 players. Make a female side or something like that. Then after P4P Persona 5 is all good too.

http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

I dread anything coming out for the PSP in Japan these days, make it Persona 4 Vita and I”m down with a double dip.

http://www.siliconera.com Jenni

Vita will be backwards compatible with downloadable PSP games, so it’d be okay if a PSP Persona 4 was released.

Kibbitz

Why the dread?

http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

Localization woes. :(

darkfox1

Even the good games coming out b4 it completely dies? Like FF-Type 0?

http://myanimelist.net/profile/Kuronoa Kuronoa

Nah just being dramatic. I’d buy anything that interests me on the PSP of course.

I heard about this I never thought this game would sell so well in US. This is just like how Call of Duty: Black Op sold 125,000 copies in Japan.

Ladius

I’m really happy for Atlus USA, 200k (2 of them are mine :P) is an astounding number for a game that most people labeled as extremely niche before its release.

I hope some of those profits are spent to localize Growlanser 4 Over Reloaded :D

Aoshi00

I just started playing the US ver last night, the Eng. dub is really good, but Trisha takes a bit getting used to since she sounds very different compared to the Jpn voice (Minagawa Junko).. and the only complaint I have is the music drowns out the dialogue during the game part while in the anime cutscenes the volume is much louder, so I constantly have to adjust the volume w/ the TV remote..

Glad this game sells so well.. sex appeal most likely played a part as well, but when it comes down to it, it’s a great puzzle game w/ a unique and mature story w/ awesome presentation. I was going to wait a bit since I alrdy imported both PS3/360 ver before, but I bought this on day 1 to support Atlus as well, and I don’t want to miss the artbook and soundtrack… Actually Buy.com did miss sending those items to me but they reimbursed me $10.. and I went onto ebay to buy the CD/artbook again.. but Buy.com did have a great deal w/ 2000 rakuten points for pre-order before, which is like $20 store credit for later use..

I haven’t had time to read the novel yet, just seems like retelling of the game story in novel format..

BTW, there are two voices I really prefer in the Eng ver, the narrator’s voice (much cooler and smoother than the weird robotic Jpn voice w/ pauses) and the old lady twins (Lindsay/Martha), they sound creepily high pitched in the Jpn ver.. the confessional kid voice is very good too and so is the Boss.. and I love the curses in the Eng dialogue, really makes the lines/conversation natural and flow well :) Really good casting and script.. one of the best localization like Phoenix Wright

http://twitter.com/ChestnutBowl Chestnut Bowl

I was going to purchase this, but I ended up winning a copy. Congrats, Atlus, on another success!

Rather than a ‘Catherine’ franchise, I’d like to see a ‘Golden Playhouse’ franchise: puzzle platformers that deal with mature horror stories, preferably strange romances.

http://twitter.com/Leivra Leivra

I first thought I’ll be one of the few people who’ll play this game, I never expected for it to reach 200,000 copies sold!
That’s really amazing. I’m really happy for Atlus.

AzureNova

ATLUS never fails! I’m happy the game did well, and happy about my limited edition sitting on my shelf ^_^.

Jirin

It’s nice to see not only a Japanese niche game, but a console Japanese niche game, selling well in the US. Hopefully this teaches game companies that Japanese styled games can do well, and the only thing you have to Americanize is the cultural references.

I want a Catherine cake for my next birthday!
I doubt I could do what Atlus did with their cake because of copyright laws…
But maybe a tower with “blocks” made out of cake and little sheep figurines?!? xD

http://twitter.com/UESneppid Mike Conroy

I don’t think they’re going to care about what you put on a cake.

Xerain

The person you pay to make the cake might simply refuse it due to copyright restrictions, even if it will just be eaten. I think that’s what he means.

XxDestinyXx

You are right. I remember hearing somewhere that if an image legally belongs to a company/person, that no one will take the risk for fear of being sued.
I could not make a shirt at the mall once with a picture I printed offline because they said it was copyrighted.

Also, I am a girl.
Not mad or anything, just thought I would clear that up. :)

WonderSteve

See SEGA and Namco…….it is totally possible for a PS3 Japanese niche game to do well in North America.

I am curious how much profit Atlus made from this game. Hopefully this will lead to Persona 5 on PS3

I’m so happy this has done well. I would love to see a sequel to this and of course, the next RPG they have in store.

Xerain

Instead of having Catherine itself be the franchise, they should have the Franchise be Golden Playhouse. This way they can have full creative freedom with the plot and setting of each game.

jotun_of_greed

the cake is a lie
ohwait

http://twitter.com/ExceptionL ExceptionL

This game is so “EDGE”

Champ W

A great thing this game doesn’t need “UNDO” eh? XD

superdry

Awesome. Great news for Atlus. I’m glad it sold well on both sides of the ocean. I know I helped a little in those sales numbers both in the US and Japan as I have a copy for each on the 360.

Since Catherine is a success and was a test for the current gen, it should be a no-brainer that Atlus JP is now working on the next SMT or SMT spin-off game.

What I would love to see, since Atlus likes the remake train, is a compilation of SMT 1, 2 and if on the PSP. Especially, if.

Covnam

I was so happy to see a game like this do so well. Hopefully this will help bring more original titles over and put in development.
A franchise though,… I suppose other media or platforms are fine, but even though I haven’t played it yet (I plan to start tomorrow) I don’t think this is exactly the sequel type of title.

http://www.facebook.com/wahyudilestadi Wahyudi Lestadi

yeah its a great game … but a franchise? rrrr…. I don’t think thats a quite good decision

DlanorKnox

A similar style of game (that sort of puzzle/visual novel mix) with different characters would be awesome.

Way to go Atlas! Now that Catherine is a smashing sucess, its time they buckle down and make the Persona 3 and Persona 4 cross over game we want. I want to see Aigis and Souji fighting Shadows with the party members….or jus give us a Persona 5.

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